Author Archives: Tom Egan

Where a plaintiff has brought a Massachusetts Civil Rights Act claim alleging that he was coerced into signing voluntary commitment papers, summary judgment is inappropriate in light of the plaintiff’s allegations. “There is no dispute that Zhuang has a ‘substantial ...

The Appeals Court has affirmed, pursuant to Rule 1:28, judgments in the following cases. Although the decisions do not appear to address any substantive issues of law, the full text of each decision may be ordered using the appropriate “Lawyers ...

The Supreme Judicial Court has found that the murder conviction of William Wood was valid despite the improper issuance of a press release during trial. The commonwealth’s first three attempts at trying the defendant ended in mistrials. The fourth attempt ...

Where a jury convicted a defendant of murder in the first degree, (1) no reversible errors were committed at trial and (2) the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s egregious issuance of a press release prior to the verdict does not ...

A defendant convicted of possession a firearm in violation of two sentencing enhancement statutes could only be sentenced under one of those statutes, the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled. A jury found defendant Tari Richardson guilty of unlawful possession by ...

Where a jury found a defendant guilty of (1) unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a like firearms offense and (2) unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a violent crime ...

Where the Chapter 7 trustee has objected to a debtor’s claim of a homestead exemption in the proceeds of a sale of the debtor’s former residence, the objection must be continued pending a final judgment in the debtor’s divorce proceeding. ...

Where the Department of Conservation and Recreation determined that a plaintiff’s proposed reconfiguration of existing lots and construction of a dwelling on a newly created lot was prohibited by the Watershed Protection Act and did not qualify for an exemption, ...

Where a complainant was terminated at the age of 71 from his position as Vice President of Manufacturing for a respondent window company, his age discrimination complaint must be dismissed because he failed to prove that he was performing his ...

Where a plaintiff has brought suit alleging that he was sickened by exposure to toxic mold while working in office space leased from the defendant town of Framingham, the complaint must be deemed timely under the discovery rule, so the ...